NATION & WORLD

Cuba has agreed to resume talks with the Obama administration on legal immigration of Cubans to the United States and direct mail service between the two countries in a move welcomed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"These talks are part of our effort to forge a new way forward on Cuba that advances the interests of the United States, the Cuban people and our entire hemisphere," she said.

The communist government notified the U.S. on Saturday that it had accepted an administration overture made May 22 to restart the immigration talks, suspended by then-President George W. Bush after the last meeting in 2003. Cuba also expressed a willingness to cooperate with the U.S. on fighting terrorism and drug trafficking, and on hurricane disaster preparedness.

The breakthrough was announced as Clinton began a three-day trip to Latin America, where she is expected to face pressure from regional leaders to take further steps to ease the U.S. policy of isolating Cuba.

"These talks are in the interests of the United States and also in the interests of the Cuban people," Clinton told reporters in San Salvador, El Salvador, after talks with foreign and trade ministers from Latin America. "At the same time, we will continue to press the Cuban government to protect basic rights release political prisoners, and move toward democratic reform."

NEW YORK

Unflagging support for Israel

Tens of thousands of supporters of Israel crowd New York's Fifth Avenue on Sunday as part of the annual parade celebrating the birth of the Jewish state in 1948. This year's parade also commemorated the centenary of the city of Tel Aviv. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson led off the parade, followed by floats playing Israeli pop music and teenagers from yeshivas and Jewish day schools. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai was an honorary grand marshal.

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said the battle began after the patrol was attacked with mortars in the western province of Farah.

Neither Afghan nor NATO troops suffered any casualties, a police official in the province said.

The U.S. military said the combined forces held a meeting with villagers after the battle to see if any civilians were injured or killed in the fight. Villagers said the battle caused no civilian casualties, the U.S. military said.

RUSSIA

Cops break up rally

MOSCOW -- Russian police thwarted opposition plans for a protest against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in central Moscow on Sunday, detaining a prominent Kremlin critic and more than 30 other government opponents.

Banned National-Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov was among at least 10 people seen being grabbed by police and dragged into buses as they tried to protest in Triumph Square. Moscow police said about 100 people had tried to protest, and 33 were detained.

City authorities had refused to grant opposition organizations permission for the demonstration.

Before the protest, the square was ringed by hundreds of police officers -- some in riot gear -- and cordoned off by metal barriers for a bike trials competition that authorities said had been organized in advance.

Florida

'Vaccine' fights cancer

ORLANDO -- Doctors have overcome 30 years of false starts and found success with another way to fight cancer: using the body's natural defender, the immune system.

The approach is called a cancer vaccine, although it treats the disease rather than prevents it.

At a cancer conference Sunday, researchers said one such vaccine kept a common form of lymphoma from worsening for more than a year. That's huge in this field, where progress is glacial and success with a new treatment is often measured in weeks or even days.

Experimental vaccines against three other cancers -- prostate, melanoma and an often fatal childhood tumor called neuroblastoma -- also gave positive results in late-stage testing in recent weeks.

Doctors unconnected with the experiments are cautiously optimistic.

Washington, D.C.

GOP senators shift stance

Since the introduction last week of Sonia Sotomayor, Republican senators wary of attacking the first Hispanic Supreme Court nominee have lashed out at conservatives who branded the would-be justice a racist.

But several of those senators said Sunday that they would now make race a focus of the nomination battle -- and they were far less eager to criticize conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich for their racially tinged critiques. As they fanned out across TV talk shows, the senators in essence pledged to ask a fundamental question: Can a woman who says her views are shaped by her gender and ethnicity make fair decisions when it comes to white men?